Six students from the art department earned the chance to compete at the state level VASE art competition in Bryan, Texas.
“It’s the largest art competition in the world,” art teacher Nancy Kizis said. “It’s an even playing field because Art 1 is compared to other Art 1 material, just like Art 2 and AP Art.”
There were 24,000 entries, and out of those, only 1,480 made it to state. Rider had six students go which is an incredible achievement. 850 students won gold medals, like Rider’s Megan Jackson. 100 of the students at competition won a gold seal. The gold seal winner’s artwork is displayed in the capital building in Austin for a year.
“The competition has been going on for 50 years in Texas,” art teacher Jim Henson said. “It’s the equivalent of UIL for art, but it’s not divided by school, and the students aren’t competing against each other but instead for gold medals and gold seals.”
The six students sent to the competition were Julyann Sosebee, Erin Harman, Destiny Zynda, Cidney Trumpf, Tailer Southby, and Megan Jackson.
“It’s the only competition based on the elements of art. It gives the school a good reflection of how well the teachers are teaching the TEKS of art, so sending six students from our school was incredible,” Henson said.
The students say the competition was an awesome experience, and they were able to enjoy their free time in Bryan.
“It was a lot of fun,” senior Julyann Sosebee said. “It inspires us to do better and gives us ideas for future artwork.”
The students were encouraged by all of the winning artwork, but they were still able to have a good time with their peers.
“It shows how we could push ourselves to do better, and we all laugh a lot and have a great time,” senior Erin Harman said.
When asked her favorite part, Kizis couldn’t decide at first, “but I loved watching the students get inspired to try new things and do better. We all loved looking at the gold seal artwork. All of the art kids fit in there, and many of them dress so wacky and fun. Art kids really are the best.”